Don’t have time? Watch these Shorts

A typical film runs for 90 minutes, but sometimes you just need your fix of cinema, well fear not the late review is here for you with some short films to help you get your film fix. The short is often where a film maker flexes their muscles and showcase what they are capable of doing. They aren’t showy like a feature might be, they are film making in it’s purest form. So here are some of my favourites.

The One

The one is an extremely short and outstandingly fun short. it tells the story of a man played expertly by comic Rory Scovel as he talks about the love of his life and the place he met her. The short is the perfect romantic story about a man, you can easily picture the monologue coming out of the mouth of the likes of Casey Affleck in the next Kenneth Lonergan film. The end will leave you in pieces and perhaps not for the reason you might think. It is understated in its direction which allows the actors to showcase the writing and there own skill. At only 3:51 in length you watch it will on the toilet if you are that way inclined.

Less than One

The second film on this list is another love story but this time about finding your soul mate. The short clearly starts after some sort of fight and one is breaking down the chance that you will meet the one, your soul mate. On the face of it, this film is ruining everything you know about chance and taking away your drive to find the one you may well fall in love with. But if you look a little deeper and it is showing you how you should learn to love the things that might otherwise annoy you; it is the perfect cleaners to the culture that tinder has created in people my age. You are watching a love story unfold in the short clips of these two as they are telling the story of how they got to this point. Again it is a understated film, it is letting the camera be a passive observer, it is like you are watching through the window. You could easily see this fitting perfectly in a romantic film like the notebook or Love Story, both of which are cult classics. This is a perfect film to watch if you are feeling down on your luck in the love department.

The Gunfighter

the third film is a clever comedy about a man a lone Cowboy in a saloon. just trying to get a drink of whisky in peace. TV’s Nick Offerman plays the voice of an all seeing and all saying narrator. The film without the narration is just a slow paced comedy western, but add in the comic sourness of Offerman and you have a world class short film that everyone should watch. I don’t want to say to much about this because it will give it away, but it is outstandingly funny and you are welcome.

Prom Queen

the final film on this list is an outstanding SNL digital short from the powerful mind of Mike O’Brien (you should all check out his 7 minutes in heaven series and the Jay Z film he made). The film is a take on She All That, the world class 90s coming of age film. This one however features Micheal Keaton as a teacher who becomes the prom queen. The film again showcases the powerhouse comedy chops of Keaton and how SNL is able to use the seemingly endless skills that its cast and writers have. I have watched this many a time and it is still as funny as when I was hungover and watching it on a Sunday morning a few years ago. O’Brien, who is no longer on SNL, should have been the man who taken over the Lonely Island role on the long running show has all the ablitiy of a David Wain (the man behind Wet Hot American Summer and The Came Together), I expect to see big things from this man in the near future when it comes to cinema and television.

This like the trailer showcase will be the first in a series of posts about short film. So stick around for future instalments of Harry’s Shorts.